Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants as early as Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the proposal. The move could end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.

The proposed rule — years in the making and approved by the White House after months of review — will require any new power plant to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. The average U.S. natural gas plant, which emits 800 to 850 pounds of CO2 per megawatt, meets that standard; coal plants emit an average of 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt.

We are the Saudi Arabia of coal - we're awash in the stuff. But Obama won't let us use it because we're also the Saudi Arabia of unicorn farts, and that's what we're going to power the future with. Sadly, our unicorn farms aren't quite ready for national production so you can plan to pay a lot more for electricity until they're brought online.